May 15, 2009
Box Score
Northridge, Calif. - While the Pacific baseball team stayed ahead of Cal State Northridge by four runs early on, a three-run fifth and a two-run seventh put the game in the books for the Tigers as Cal State Northridge went on to win 5-4 on Friday, May 15.
With the loss Pacific fell to 18-30 on the year and 8-14 in the Big West Conference, while the Matadors improved to 21-29 and 5-14 in conference action. Currently the Tigers sit in seventh place in the Big West with Cal State Northridge right behind.
Looking to start their final road series of the season off quickly, the Tigers jumped out front of the Matadors in the opening innings with two early runs in the first two innings. As he has done all season for the Tigers, sophomore Nick Longmire (San Diego, Calif.) started the game off with a bang, knocking the second pitch of the contest the opposite way to the wall for a triple. The three-bagger was Longmire's sixth triple of the year, a total which place's the sophomore outfielder second all-time on the Tigers' single-season triples list.
With Longmire aboard to lead off the game, the Tigers wasted no time breaking their way onto the scoreboard when senior Joey Centanni (San Diego, Calif.) drove home the game's opening run with a ground ball to the left side. Despite adding a second hit in the inning two batters later, the Tigers would settle for one run in the opening frame.
In the second, and after Centanni set the Matadors down in order in the first, the Tigers went back to work offensively, again putting up a solo run to take a 2-0 lead. Battling back from an 0-2 count, junior Mike Walker (Marysville, Calif.) slashed a single through the left side and into left field to give the Tigers a leadoff hit for the second straight inning. Using his legs to get the Tigers going, Walker promptly stole second before advancing to third on a deep fly to right to put the second run of the game just 90 feet from pay dirt. Freshman Josh Simms (La Mesa, Calif.) drove Walker home with a single to right and would move all the way to third on a single by junior Ben Gorang (Turlock, Calif.), but again, the Tigers would have to settle for just one run in the inning as Pacific left the pair on base to end the inning.
After a scoreless third, the Tigers would strike pay dirt for the third inning in four at bats, this time putting their first crooked number on the board with two runs in the fourth. A one-out double down the left field line by junior Jamie Niley (Elk Grove, Calif.) would kick start the inning for the Tigers as Pacific would follow the double with back-to-back singles by Simms and Gorang as the junior shortstop beat out an infield single to short to plate the first run of the inning. Pacific would tack on a fourth straight hit and third straight single when Longmire came up with his second hit of the game and his first RBI of the game to bring home Simms.
Despite the quick start including nine hits in the first four innings, the Tigers bats would cool over the final five innings of play as the Matadors took advantage to mount a comeback against Pacific. With the pitching picking up for the Matadors, the Tigers suffered a reversal of fortune against Cal State Northridge as the Matadors put up a pair of crooked numbers in the fifth and the seventh inning to steal away the game from the Tigers.
After rolling through the first four innings, Centanni got into his first trouble of the contest in the fifth when the Matadors made use of three hits and a walk to plate three runs in the inning and bring the Tigers' lead to just one run. The big damage in the inning began after the Matadors followed a one-out walk with a triple and a double, both to left field, to plate their first pair of runs.
Still holding their lead, the Tigers finally relinquished control of the game in the seventh inning as the Matadors pounded out a pair of hits to start the inning and took advantage of an error and a wild pitch to do their damage against the Tigers.
With the damage done, Pacific was unable to recover in the final two innings of play as the Tigers mounted a one-out rally in the eighth only to see their chance cut down and their tying run stranded in scoring position at second.
Overall, the Tigers out-hit the Matadors posting 12 hits to Cal State Northridge's nine. Five players posted a multi-hit game for Pacific led by Niley's 3-for-4 effort at the plate. For the Matadors, three players posted multiple hits while TS Reed did the most damage in the game for Cal State Northridge posting two RBI in the contest.
Centanni picked up the loss for the Tigers as he went 7.2 innings while giving up nine hits and five runs, four earned. He added four strike outs and two walks as he threw exactly 100 pitches in the game. Ryan Juarez picked up the win for the Matadors as he threw 7.0 full innings giving up 10 hits and four runs while striking out three and walking just one.
Game two of the three-game series is set to be underway on Saturday, May 16, with a first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
